residence of the authorities of the district, and possesses a new and well-built church and thirteen houses. In summer most of these are empty, their owners being absent for the chase, fishing, or some other employment. At the time we arrived the place was particularly animated, as the inhabitants were engaged in constructing a dam across the riv er, to which they were fastening baskets, &c., to catch the fish in ascending the stream. Great quan tities were formerly thus taken, but they have so diminished in number the last few years that the people have been obliged to get rid of most of their dogs for want of food for them, and to have recourse to horses and cattle. They are, indeed, giving great attention to this last object, but the shortness of the summer renders it extremely difficult to provide forage.

The cold was daily increasing during the latter half of our journey from Sardach to this place we had had a temperature from -9° to -33° with a clear sky, but happily without wind. It was necessary for us to remain a day at Sredne Kolymsk to obtain a complete travelling equipment of fur clothing, such as the inhabitants wear, and which will be described in the following chapter.

I was so helpless when loaded with my new costume, that I was obliged to be lifted on my horse : luckily, the skin of the reindeer combines remarkable lightness with its great thickness and warmth, or it would scarcely be possible to sustain the weight of it. The natives get along very well with these garments, and slip in and out through the narrow doors of the cottages, where we novices were constantly sticking fast.

On the 27th of October we left Sredne Kolymsk, and continued our journey on horseback along the left bank of the Kolyma, meeting occasionally with settlements. After travelling 320 wersts we came to a Russian village on the banks of the river Omo

ARRIVAL AT NISHNE KOLYMSK.

55

lon. Hree we changed our mode of travelling, to our great joy; for the intense cold and our cumbrous dresses rendered riding exceedingly inconvenient. Quitting our horses, we placed ourselves in the light, narrow sledges used here, called narty, which are drawn by dogs, and with which we found that we got on much more rapidly than with horses, the surface being quite smooth, and that we also suffered far less from the cold. Hitherto we had seen woods of larch and poplar, and had met occasionally with birch, and with fine grassy meadows; but from this time we scarcely saw any trees, and the bushes became more and more stunted as we proceeded farther north. Two days more brought us to Nishne (Lower) Kolymsk: we arrived there on the 2d of November, and the temperature was then -40°.

Thus we had travelled eleven thousand wersts in 224 days, and reached the first point to which we were bound. Nishne Kolymsk is a fishing village, and was destined to be our headquarters for the next three years.

CHAPTER III.

Topography of the District of the Lower Kolyma.-Character of its Climate.-Winter.-Diseases.-Vegetable_Growth.Abundance of Animals.-Former Inhabitants.-Present Inhabitants.-Houses.-Dress.-Sufferings of the People from want in the Spring.-Overflowing of the Rivers.-Fisheries. -Taking of Birds.-Hunting the Reindeer.-Summer Employment of the Women.-Catching Herrings.-Trapping the Fur Animals.-Intrepidity of a Hunter.-Employment of Dogs. Interior of the Houses. - Household Economy.

Amusements.

THE River Kolyma has its source in 610 lat., and 146° long., in the mountains known under the name of Stanowoj-Chrebet, where the Indigirka also ri

ses its course for the first 1500 wersts follows the direction of the eastern branch of those mountains, or is N.N.E.; and it empties itself into the Polar Sea in 69° 40'. For the first 800 wersts the stream is exceedingly rapid, but beyond this it becomes wider and more tranquil. The right bank is steep, consisting of bluff rocks, with the exception of the portion between the mouths of the tributary rivers Omolon and Aniuj. These rocks are precipitous and often overhanging, composed of slate,* intersected in some places by veins of indurated clay, and chloride slate, as at Cape Kresty; in others the slate is black and pure, without admixture, as at Cape Aspidnoj (Slate Cape); and sometimes, as in the Kandakow rocks, it is interspersed with amygdaloid chalcedony, crystals of amethyst, and large specimens of rock-crystal. No fossils have been met with.

Notwithstanding the rocky character of the right bank, vegetation is tolerably rich: we saw the beautiful epilobium latifolium in bloom. A species of sanguisorba also abounds, the roots of which are collected by the natives, and used as an article of food.

The left bank is less elevated in the district of Sredne Kolymsk there are still high-lying pastures, but in approaching the sea, the bank and the district become gradually lower and flatter, until at last the whole country is one enormous tundra or moss-level, extending to the Alasej and the ocean.

Besides the two rivers Aniuj (greater and lesser), and the Omolon, there are several smaller tributaries; those which have their sources in mountainous or rocky districts being called kamennye protoki, or rock-streams, and those which flow from lakes, wiski.

Granite is found at the Baranow rocks, and in the district of Cape Schelagskoj. I observed the first traces of it at Medweshy Myss, Bear Cape.

TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE.

57

Some wersts above the mouth of the Omolon, an arm of the Kolyma encloses a portion of the western tundra, forming a low swampy island, on the southern margin of which Nishne Kolymsk is situated. The river here takes an easterly course for about 100 wersts, after which it turns sudddenly to the north, and, forty wersts below, it divides into two branches, forming the island of Merchojanow. The greatest breadth of this island is nine and a half wersts, while in length it extends to the mouth of the river, where it is much intersected by small streams. The eastern arm is six wersts in breadth, and is called Kammenaya, or the stony Kolyma; the western, which is not above four wersts wide, is called the Pochodskaja, and also called the Srednaja, or middle Kolyma. About twenty-four wersts farther to the north, a less considerable arm, called the Tschukotskoj, branches off and flows to the northeast. These three arms form the embouchure, which is about 100 wersts across. The middle and the stony Kolyma have sufficient depth of water for vessels of all kinds; the navigation is, however, impeded and rendered dangerous by the number of shifting sandbanks formed by their current, especially near the entrance from the sea. Besides the two larger islands already mentioned, there are a number of smaller ones, which are low, and have been formed in the same manner as the sandbanks.

The extreme severity of the climate of this district may be attributed perhaps even more to its unfavourable physical position than to its high latitude. To the west there is the great barren tundra, and to the north a sea covered with perpetual ice; so that the cold N.W. wind, which blows almost without intermission, meets with no impediment; bringing with it violent storms of snow, not only in winter, but frequently in summer. This unbroken exposure influences the temperature so greatly, that the average or mean temperature of the year is not higher than 14°.

At Nishne Kolymsk the river freezes early in September; and nearer the mouth, especially of the most northerly branch, which has the least rapid current, loaded horses often cross on the ice as early as the 20th of August, nor does it ever melt before the beginning of June. It is true that during the three months which are honoured with the name of summer, the sun remains, for fifty-two days, constantly above the horizon, but then so near it that his light is accompanied by very little heat; his disk often assuming an elliptical form, and being so dim that it may be gazed upon with the naked eye without inconvenience.

During this season of perpetual light the usual order of nature is not disturbed: as the sun approaches the horizon, evening and night come on, and all is hushed in repose; as he again ascends, nature awakes; the few little birds hail the new day with their cheerful twittering; the small folded yellow flowers expand their petals, and everything living appears anxious to partake in the enjoyment which his faint beams afford.

As under the tropics there are only spring and summer, so here there are only summer and winter, in spite of the opinion of the inhabitants, who talk quite seriously of their spring and autumn. Spring they affect to recognise in that period when the sun is first visible at noon, though at this vernal season the thermometer is often -35° during the night; and autumn they reckon from the first freezing of the river, which is early in September, when the temperature is frequently -470.

The vegetation of summer is scarcely more than a struggle for existence. In the latter end of May the stunted willow-bushes put forth little wrinkled leaves, and the banks which slope towards the south assume a semi-verdant hue. In June the temperature at noon attains to 72°; the flowers begin to show themselves, and the berry-bearing plants blos